DANBURY, CT - UMass Boston Men's Lacrosse's bid for a third straight Little East Conference tournament championship fell just short as they lost to Western Connecticut State in the championship game by a final score of 14-9 on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 9, WestConn 14

UMass Boston (12-7)
WestConn (15-4)

HOW IT HAPPENED

In the opening quarter the UMass Boston offense, which ranked fifth in all of NCAA DIII coming into Saturday, was shut out by a strong WestConn defense. Fortunately for the Beacons, goalie Trevor Koppy stood on his head, saving eight shots while limiting the Wolves to just two goals.

The Wolves ripped off three goals in the first three minutes of the second quarter to jump out to a 5-0 lead. 

Charlie Chapman opened the scoring for the Beacons with just under ten minutes left to play in the half. His 31st goal cut the WestConn lead to 5-1.

Later on in the quarter Chapman and Jacob Banks each scored a goal within 40 seconds of each other to cut the deficit to 6-3. 

With his 50th assist on Chapman's second goal, Gavin Admirand took over sole possession of the program's single season assist record. 

WestConn scored three unanswered goals to finish the first half, including their ninth of the game which came with seven seconds left to play. The Wolves took a 9-3 lead into halftime.

The Beacons offense was much more potent in the third quarter than in the first two. Liam Bowler, Connor Smith, and Jacob Banks each put a ball in the net to double the team's scoring. Chapman completed his hat trick with just under six minutes to play, cutting the WestConn lead to 9-7.

A Smith goal in the fourth would once again cut the lead to two and Luke Murphy's first goal of the day made the score 12-9. However, that is all the offense the Beacons could muster as they went on to lose by a final score of 14-9.

Though he did not earn the victory in the final game of his career, Koppy stood tall, saving 14 shots in his 60 minutes in net.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Bowler led the way for the Beacons with three assists and four total points on the day
• Gavin Admirand finishes the season as the program's single-season record holder for points (121) and assists (50). He also tied the program record for goals in a season (72)
• The Beacons have an all-time record of 2-3 in LEC championship games
• The all-time series between the two programs now sits even at 12 wins apiece